By that time, it was too late to take his name off the ballot. Republicans in the state urged voters to cast their ballot for him anyway to keep the seat from the Democrats. Under state law, if a candidate who has died is elected, someone from the same party is appointed by local officials to fill the seat.

Hof called himself “The Trump of Pahrump,” after his town in Nevada, and beat a three-term incumbent Republican in June’s primary.

He told BuzzFeed in November that he thought support for him mirrored the continued support for Trump after the emergence of the “Access Hollywood” tape.

He said: “Women were like, ‘Yeah, we won’t vote for him.’ Till they got behind the f–king ballot box and nobody’s looking – boop, ‘I want a man. I don’t give a shit how many p—sies he grabs, I want a man that’ll make things happen'”

“And the same thing with me.”

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Dennis Hof poses outside his brothel in Nevada in June.

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REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo

Hof’s platform was largely conservative, as he looked to expand gun rights and vowed to take a tough stance on immigration. He also wanted to push to make the brothel industry more mainstream and introduce more sex education to schools.

Hof also starred HBO reality show “Cathouse”, which chronicled life at his most famous brothel, the Bunny Ranch. He owned five brothels in Nevada, according to Reuters. Prostitution is legal in the state.

He faced multiple accusations of sexual assault, and these were under investigation when he died, according to BuzzFeed.